Planar waveguide spectrometers, such as arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) and waveguide echelle gratings are commonly used in wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) communication networks. Integrated spectrometer devices have been used in a wider range of spectrometry applications that are not demanding on spectral resolution. For example, applications in medical instrumentation, genomics, chemical and biological sensing, and optical metrology such as space-born environmental sensing from micro- and nano-satellite platforms may use Raman or infrared absorption spectroscopy techniques. Compact, monolithic optical micro-spectrometers capable of the high-resolution are essential components of Raman and infrared absorption spectroscopy.
Miniature near-infrared (NIR) spectrometers can be used in large telescopes for astrophotonics applications. AWGs are considered a promising photonic technology for such large telescopes, as they can satisfy the target requirement for the spectrograph including resolving power, low crosstalk between adjacent on-chip wavelength channels, wide spectral range, and high on-chip throughput. Current large-format, high-resolution imaging spectrometers such as NIR spectrometers are quite expensive due to high size, weight, and power requirements (SWaP).